User blog:CuteLunaMoon/Chapter 7: Diary of Sophia, part 1
In the eerie light of the strange lamp, I page through the worn pages of Sophia 's diary. There are many recipes and notes tucked in the diary and a thick manuscript attached to it. However, I find that a portion of pages are missing. I was always fascinated by Sophia and the Green Willows. But in their stories, there are still something that doesn't really add up. Some thing that I might find out in Sophia's diary. She have said before that this is the diary she kept after she went to Yharnam. In the weather-worn bed, I start to read her diary. "Diary of Sophia Sheep Arrive at Yharnam at 9:30 P.M on January 17th. Should have arrived at Jannuary 14th, but ship was delayed for an unknown reason. Yharnam is one of the oldest yet least known city in the country. There were only rumours that Yharnam's blood could cure any desease, if you were desperate. I set sail for the old city for the promishing subtance, with a introduction letter from maester Robert Jenkin head library of the Grand Royal Library. I was expected at the harbour by the Healing Church clerics. The clerics were warm and hospitable. I had for dinner, or rather supper, black pudding did up some way with herbs, baked beans, and square sausages, which were good but thirsty. The wine was Pungent Blood Cocktail , a Yharnam traditional wine, which produces a queer sting on the tongue. Though the taste was strange, however, one could say it was very refreshing. Two glasses of Blood Cocktail begged the third and, to my delight, gave me an unknown euphoria and a little dizzy. The cook told me it was Yharnam's special way to treat guesses. After, writing these note, I would sleep well after a long and journey, thanks to the good wine they offered. January 18th I was amazed by the healing property of Yharnam' s blood. Master Robert would be surprised by the potent of such miraculous substance. I witnessed a woman with smallpox was cured with blood ministration. The blood was so promising I decided to stay here to study it. As a doctor, I was welcomed by the church and its clerics. The city was so pretty and vast. From my room, I could see the canvas of a crowded city with her blessed walls and mighty chapels pointed to the sky. On the streets, people of all nationalities roamed. Some of them were native Yharnamites. Most, however, were foreigners, came to the city to seek the cure for their ailments. The large variety of nationality of people in Yharnam varified its cuisine. At dinner, I was served black pudding, pottage pumpkins, stuffed with pear and raw blood. Pumpkin (which sometimes called pompions)- a food came from the new world, was incredibly delicious. To think, Yharnam was famous for its blood healing so the citizens might also draw to foods that made from blood." __________________________________________________________________________ (My thought) The rest of the page is a set of Yharnam food recipes which she found great and various notes about the clerics like their names, their positions. She was like me when she first arrived in Yharnam. I can still imagine the working pier with all sort of people and Yharnam crowded streets. But the incredibly details in the recipes she wrote set a big difference between Sophia and me. I never cooked before. I was raised up as a countess plus I was crippled. '' ''On the outside, the wind still harrowingly howl and mighty waves still heavily bombard the stony beach. My chest has stopped aching so I change my position a bit to relax my neck. _____________________________________________________________________________ "January 30th Yharnam's blood can even cure leprosy. Such a miracle. Though I must observe the sick for two more weeks to make sure about the effectiveness of the cure. I met a young and stalwart hunter by the name Gascoigne today. Gascoigne was a hunter of the Healing Church hunter. He was from my country, too. We had a good conversation. it was a pity that he has found the love of his life, a Yharnamite girl whose name was Viola , daughter of a fellow church hunter. Later tonight, I saw a strange tradition of Yharnam. On the streets, there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, in all sort of attires. Some of them were just like the peasants at home. They carried torches and weapons and roamed the streets aimlessly. The strangest figures I saw were men higher than most and carried ploughs and saws. Sister Cadeau said it was full moon and the werewolf hunt has begun. I wasn't accustomed to the town tradition and lore but I didn't ask further. I have heard the story about the werewolf hunt and witch hunt though I doubted their existence. Perhaps, a bear or something stood upright and was mistaken for a lycanthrope. February 14th I found a bunch of rose on my operation table, and a letter from James, a hunter of the Healing Church, in an order called the Holy Blade. He was a stalwart and very handsome man at my age. When I first talked to him, he wasn't a very serious man. But in him, I found a good heart. When I asked him about his job, this led to many conversations. I asked him many questions regarding things that had come to my notice. Most of the time he sheered off the subject or turned the conversation by joking about something else, but generally, he answered all I asked sarcastically. He told me that his job born little honour than it sounded and that the hunt wasn't the most terrible part. Little did I know about him, but the Holy blades were said to be what remains of an ancient line of heroes that date back to a very early age of honour and chivalry. He asked me out for a ball held in town tonight, to which I agreed. The dinner I had at his lovely house was so good and romantic. Just like me, James was a heavy user of blood. Under the candle light, we had jugged hare, farina soup and Blood Cocktail, and we kissed." _______________________________________________________________________________ (My thought) So, that was how they met. The image of James and Sopphia in their last moment put a tear in to my eye. James loved her dearly. I wonder if I ever found someone who could die for me. Like the rest of Yharnam, they used blood excessively, which was why they soon became blood-drunk. _____________________________________________________________________________ " March 1st With torches in their hand and fear in their heart, the townfolks hunted their nightmare on the streets. James was among them. I had grown attached to him since that Valentine's night. Though he was not a serious person, he was a reliable man and most importantly, I loved him. I longed for his return. The hunt was led by captain Owen, also a Holy Blade. He was one of the most chivalry and disciplined I have ever known and a good friend of mine and James. James was his second-in-command. James had told me much about the hunt, the hunters and the beasts. They weren't just stories to scare outsiders off. They were real. There was a story that an outsider who brought the beastly curse to the town long, long ago. In response, the Church formed their own official hunter workshop and appointed Ludwig as the first official hunter of the Church. Ludwig decided to arm and train the citizenry to fight the beasts as his Church Hunters. Ludwig himself had hoped that his hunters would be honorable spartans who slay the beasts for the safelty of the people. Following his call, many Yharnamites that lacked his training also joined the hunts, which soon became a regular event. This mob, led by the Church's black-garbed doctors and church servants, roamed the streets where they cut down the beasts and the infected. Nowadays, anybody who showed symptoms of the plague would be purged indiscriminately to stop the infection. The remains of the victims were kept to study. The Church coldly operated without care for how they looked to the public. Those who had lost family and friends started to show resentment towards the hunters and the hunt. That was why his job born little honor. James and Owen, as well as a part of the Holy Blades were often at odds with their accompanied black doctors. The Holy Blades found the indiscriminately purge on the family members of the infected was unnecessary. " _______________________________________________________________________ (My thought) I was like her, too. I did not believe in the story until the beasts took my trusted servants and friends from me. The rest of the page are depictions of many type of beasts she was told about. The drawing was good and detailed, which makes me thing she must have seen the beasts herself to draw this accurate. There are also detailed decriptions of each variant, and even their weaknesses. Perhaps these were during her years of being hunter. _________________________________________________________________________ " May 6th They caught a young girl stealing some loaves of horsebread at the market today. James paid for her so that she would not meet punishment. The girl seemed to be scared of our church attire and she politely thanked us for the loaves of bread and vanished in a dark alley. An hour later or so, we met her again in a small alley near the aqueduct. She seemed pretty frightened and ran away. Perhaps, the little girl thought we stalked her. She fell and twisted her left ankle. I help her with her trauma and told her that we meant no harm. James jokingly told her that we were kidnappers, I responded by pinching him in the ear. There were rumours about an unseen Vileblood kidnappers plagued the town. The little girl introduced herself as Ella and thanked us for helping her twice but insisted that she could walk home on her own. May 7th Ella caused troubles again. She was caught stealing a sedative this time. I was quite angry until she explained that her sick mother needed it and she could not afford a bread, let alone a sedative. I told her that I was a doctor and I could help her mother but she declined my offer. When we walked out of the market, we met Sef- a middle-aged Mensis scholar, who wore a very odd cage on her head. Ella greeted the scholar and they seemed to know one another well. Sef was quite well-known for being brilliant and kind. She gave Ella some medicine, perhaps for the young girl's mother. Later, Sef confirmed that. May 12th Ella met me in the market this morning, and pleaded me to help her mother, who was infected by the scourge. I was quite surprised by her boldness but she said she trusted me since I was a friend of Sef. From her, I learned that one of Sef's twin daughters, whose name was Iosefka, was critically ill and she could not help Ella's mother. I followed Ella to a down-trodden area of Yharnam, in the valley beneath Old Yharnam . James would be very displeased if he ever known I venture to this part of Old Yharnam. The place was full of low-class inns filled with drunkards of all sort, cheap brothels, pot-shops serving meagre stews. Many denizens of the slum gave me a mean and dubious look but I just pretend I did not see them. The first time I saw a beast patient. She was young, polite and sad. I gave her bloodletting and some sedative to calm the poor woman's nerves. In fact, I did not know how to slow down the transformation but I promised her I would keep everything a secret. It was late so I bought some soup from the closest pot-shop for the poor family. The pot-shops in the slum served a slow-cooked stew called "Hunter's soup" which contained mostly vegetable, and meat of questionable origins. Hunter's soup was a staple diet of the unfortunate habitants of Old Yharnam. The stew was truly gruesome. The ingredients varied from shop to shop and most commonly contained meat from, perhaps, rats or cats and all sort of wild edibles. But there were rumours that the pot-shops mostly cooked their stews after a monthly hunt. James once joked that once I spew out a beast finger while having the soup. Because he was never serious, no one knew if it was true. But, looking at the thick and dubious soup, I thought he was honest. When I went out of the slum, the sun had set. And, I met James and Owen. The two went looking for me when they heard that I went to the slum. I told them what happened and pleaded them not to tell others. Beast Patients and those who interacted with them the most would likely to get infected as well. And they would meet execution and incineration by the church to stop the infection. May 13th James and I bought Ella and her mother five pounds of oat bread and a pound of scrabble. I also brought Ella a small white dress with a big ribbon as decoration.The dress used to be Mr Owen grand daughter's but its former owner moved out of town last month. James escorted me to the slum. Ella'smother situation got worse. She showed clear sight of transforming. She vomited a dubious substance and grow thick fur. I didn't know if she could still be saved. James held her while I gave her blood ministration. I hope Yharnam blood could help. I have cured a rabid case with the miraculous blood. I prayed Ella's mother would be able to get over the sickness May 15th Tonight was the night of the hunt. Yharnam's beastly scourge was at its worst on the moonlit nights. Like usual, I waited on the Cathedral Ward's great bridge for James's return. Tonight, he came back, with a saddened face, and a torn bloody ribbon in his hand" ______________________________________________________________________________ (My thought) There are many notes about some sorts of treatment for various ailments tucked in the pages. Most were written by Sophia, but some were written by someone else. The writing styles is different enough to picture that the were at least two persons who wrote these notes. When I read about the "Hunter's Soup", I uncomfortably recall the Forbidden Woods villagers. There were rumours that two hunters of the village, the Madara Twins, feed their pet snake beast entrails. It sends a chill down my spine to think of where the rest of the body goes. The rain has stopped and I close Sophia's diary with a heavy heart. Poor Ella. I feel that some tears roll on my cheek. I dress myself up, pick up the slug, tuck it in my cloak and step outside the hut. At least, with Sophia's diary, I could feel less lonely in this melancholy beach. Category:Blog posts